Let's start with taste... this cake was DELICIOUS! The flavor was Almond Amaretto Praline. Each tier was composed of three layers of almond butter cake soaked with an amaretto moistening syrup. The layers were filled with a homemade almond praline crunch and amaretto Italian meringue buttercream.

Each tier was crumb coated with amaretto Italian meringue buttercream and covered with an almond-flavored fondant. The top and bottom tiers were wrapped with ribbon and the middle tier was covered with black gumpaste diamonds.

The initials on the top tier were made from gumpaste inserted on florist wires. A number of various sizes of gumpaste calla lilies were arranged on each tier of the cake. Up to this point, I had never made gumpaste calla lilies and I haven't taken a course to learn them. It took a few tries but I'm happy with how they turned out!

I was so excited to make this wedding cake and I'm certain it was a beautiful night! Congratulations to the happy couple!!

This is a margarita chiffon cake filled with a strawberry and lime tequila compote iced in a Triple Sec-lime mousseline buttercream.

The cake was finished off with a hibiscus pattern stencilled in buttercream and trio of gumpaste hibiscus flowers on the top of the cake. I'm not one to ever order a margarita and personally, I hate tequila... but this one is actually very yummy!

Since we are in the middle of the Olympics here in Vancouver now, these Canada-themed cupcakes seem appropriate! They were for a children's birthday party for some little (but loyal!) Team Canada fans!

The cupcakes were sour cream chocolate cake with a vanilla bean Italian meringue buttercream. There were mini cupcakes for the children and regular size cupcakes for the adults.

There were three different Canada decorations on the cupcakes. At the far left, an example of the red gumpaste maple leaf topper. In the center is the paper Canadian flag. And finally on the right is a cupcake topped with small red maple leaf candies. With our mens' hockey game against the USA only a few hours away, all that is left to say now is...

The recipe for this brown sugar angel food cake called for a homemade hot fudge sauce but I thought that a rum-caramel glaze would work better with brown sugar. It was good but it smelled like pancakes and was said to have a flavor reminiscent of French toast! I think I prefer my angel food cake made with white sugar but you never know unless you try!

The cake, which was for a belated birthday celebration, was topped with three gumpaste calla lilies.

This design was modified from a cake in the 2009 Wilton Yearbook. I loved the cake as soon as I saw it but thought it would look better in black and white (the cake was done in ivory and chocolate in the book).

I opted to top the cake with a white gumpaste peony tinged with black instead of the bow on the cake in the yearbook. The pattern on the white fondant ribbons coming down the sides of the cake tiers is piped with black royal icing.

The design of this cake is from Peggy Porschen. The roses on the sides of the cake tiers are done with royal icing runouts and the dots and stripes on the pink tiers are also done with royal icing. The roses on the top of the cake were dried.

This is a display cake so that I have samples of my work available. All four tiers are styrofoam cake dummies. I'm very happy with how this one turned out!

I've been meaning to make some fake wedding cakes for awhile now so that I have samples of my work on hand. This would also be useful if I get around to partipating in the Bakers' Market or Arts and Craft Fairs!

The design is from Peggy Porschen, although I did change the color scheme. I always love brown and teal together. I have two more sample cakes coming but they may be delayed a little since I'm currently trying to perfect three recipes for the possibility of getting into baking and pastry school!

I've been wanting to try out bellini cupcakes for awhile and I finally got the chance. These are white cupcakes soaked in a Prosecco and peach schnapps moistening syrup topped with a swirl of a Peach Schnapps and Prosecco mousseline buttercream and a fuzzy peach candy.

Personally, I wasn't happy with these cupcakes and have been trying to think of a way to achieve the taste I was aiming for but other people seem to like them well enough the way they are... once a perfectionist, always a perfectionist I guess!

This is a triple layer carrot cake with vanilla cream cheese icing coated with chopped pecans. It's a recipe I've done many, many times but no matter how many other flavors I try, carrot cake is always yummy for any occasion! ... Yum!

This week was the last of the gumpaste flowers classes that I had signed up for... and the phrase "save the best for last" just might apply! I was the most excited beforehand about the peonies and I'm not usually a huge fan of lilies but I LOVE this one!

Daffodils were one of the first flowers I ever tried to make out of gumpaste but this one looks a little better than those first attempts!

I learned a lot about making tulips in the class. I'm not totally thrilled with how this one turned out since my petals are too wavy to adjust correctly but I'm certain that I can make awesome tulips next try!

I love the bright, vibrant colors in the Dutch iris! I think these flowers would look best with a few of them with some leaves but definitely not today! I'm exhausted and will be up bright and early to bake a birthday cake tomorrow!